The Reluctant Heir. HelenKay Dimon

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СКАЧАТЬ behind her. “Are you okay?”

      “I was up until three minutes ago.”

      He let out a long, labored exhale. The kind that telegraphed a this-woman-is-working-on-my-nerves vibe. “Let’s start over. My father sent me.”

      The memory of her youthful crush vanished. Her stomach squeezed and twisted until she had to fight the urge to yell. “To tell me to stay away? Well, I did that. If he’s ticked off it’s his own fault, or yours, because you came hunting me.”

      “What are you talking about?”

      “Whatever he wants this time, the answer is no.” She gave in and shoved the door. Put her weight behind it and let it fly.

      Carter grabbed the edge before it crashed into his shoulder. “Whoa. What do you mean by this time? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

      Yep, his reflexes were just as solid as the rest of him. All muscle and long legs and perfect cheekbones... Man, she hated the Jameson family and their hot-male genes.

      “You need to go.” She’d said it in a few ways now. Maybe this time would sink in.

      “What did he do? My father. Your reaction is...telling.”

      Carter could not be this clueless. It wasn’t just his father. It was him, too. He’d created a mess and had his big ol’ rich daddy sweep the problem away.

      That was almost a year ago. Now Carter showed up, taking the never-happened part a bit too far. “Oh, please.”

      “Hanna.” This time there was a bit more oomph behind his tone when he said her name. “We haven’t seen each other in, what, ten years?”

      True, and it managed to feel like both forever ago and like yesterday. “Your point?”

      “Normally, I need to see a woman more often for her to be this angry with me.” One eyebrow lifted. “Or can I assume my father is responsible for your mood?”

      Oh, this younger Jameson was a smooth one. Calm, standing there in his slim black pants with his hands in his pockets. A short gray winter coat highlighted his trim waist and likely cost more than her beat-up car with its side view mirror held on with electrical tape.

      He rocked back on his heels, as if they were having a friendly chat. She had to give him credit. Carter Jameson had never tripped through that typical gawky preteen stage. Nope, he went from young and cute back then to all grown-up and hot now. Confidence pounded off him. The mix of perfect genes and I-know-my-place-in-the-world control proved pretty compelling.

      Too bad he was a lying sack of garbage.

      “The threats.” She stared at him, watching confusion sweep through his eyes. Yeah, nice try. “The baby.”

      The color left Carter’s face. Drained away, leaving him pale and listing to one side. “Oh, damn. Please tell me you didn’t date my father and get pregnant.”

      She almost gagged. “What?”

      “Look...” Carter held up both hands. “He’s... I don’t know, charming? At least that’s what women have said. I don’t get it at all but—”

      “Stop talking.” She grabbed a handful of his jacket when her nosy neighbor from across the hall opened his door. After a quick wave to send the guy scurrying away, she pulled Carter into her apartment and shut the door, trapping them inside. Together. Which was her nightmare.

      “I did not sleep with your father.” She practically hissed the words at him.

      “Good.” Carter visibly blew out another breath as a bit of color returned to his cheeks. “You said something about a baby?”

      She shouldn’t have mentioned it. She refused to travel down that heartbreaking road. “How did your father find me?”

      “Uh...” Carter closed one eye as if he were trying to reason something out in his head. “Were you lost?”

      She didn’t buy the act. This errand had a purpose and Carter was the only one of the two of them who knew what it was. “Skip to the part where you explain how and why you’re here.”

      “Okay.” His frown came and went. By the time he made eye contact again he seemed to have gotten control of whatever emotions were churning inside him. His expression morphed into a blank and unreadable one. “It’s a long story, but suffice it to say, my father asked me to come and see you. Specifically, to give this to you.”

      He held out an envelope. Another envelope just like the ones his father had handed her and sent to her with messengers before. The idea of being told to stay away when she already had done just that didn’t make any sense. But the idea of reading through more correspondence from Eldrick Jameson exhausted her. She refused to do it. She would not give him or Carter the satisfaction of ordering her around and getting their way a second time.

      The envelope might as well have been on fire because there was no way she was touching it. Never again. “Put that away.”

      He flipped it around in the air a few times. “You don’t want it?”

      He sounded stunned at the thought. She almost laughed at the reaction. It was as if he didn’t know his father and the old man’s schemes at all. There were always strings when it came to dealing with a Jameson.

      “Save us both some time and just tell me what it says.”

      Carter shrugged. “How should I know?”

      “You’re telling me you didn’t open it? You flew here or took a million-dollar taxi ride or whatever and you never gave in to the itch to crack open the seal?” That seemed to defy human nature.

      “Gotta say it sounds like you want to know what’s inside.” When she didn’t say anything, his hand dropped. “He left the envelope for you and said he wanted you to have it. My job was to deliver it.”

      “Why?”

      “I figured you knew.”

      Anger whooshed out of her, but frustration quickly settled in its place. She had no idea what was happening. From the apologetic sound of his voice, she wondered if he did either. “Are you serious? You really don’t know what this assignment your father gave you is about?”

      “Unfortunately, no.” Carter moved around the small space, careful to dodge the corner of her dresser and the edge of her bed, to stand by the window. “I’m not sure how to ask this, so I’m just going to blurt it out. I apologize in advance for the delivery.”

      “That sounds ominous and—”

      “Did you have a thing with my father? Maybe not sexual but...something?”

      The question sounded just as horrifying the second time. The words had changed but the idea still screeched in her brain. “I don’t want anything to do with your father. Never did.”

      “That’s new.”

      “Meaning?”

      Carter СКАЧАТЬ